Scientists Create the Definitive Flu Killer

University of Texas Southwestern's scientists have created a new flu vaccine that can protect us against any kind of flu, not just one type. Unlike the current type of vaccines, this can even protect us if the virus mutates.

That's the big problem of the current vaccines: every year, medical experts guess what's going to be the dominant flu strain and create a vaccine using a weakened version of that virus. When it gets injected, our body gets to know the weakened virus safely, producing cells that can neutralize that virus if a real attack occurs. The problem is that, if that virus mutates, this prevention becomes useless. That is why people may get the flu even when they are vaccinated.

The team led by Dr. Beatrice Fontoura took a completely different approach:

What we are doing is something different. We are actually stimulating our own response which is already there – boost it – to fight an infection.

Their solution boosts our natural immunological system, targeting a protein in our bodies called REDD-1. Fontoura's team discovered that, when REDD-1 levels are low in a cell, the flu virus can easily infect the cell. The vaccine increases the protein's levels, creating a shield that is impossible for the virus to penetrate.

According to the team, the new vaccine is so effective that it can even protect us against the Spanish Flu, the H1N1 influenza virus that killed between 50 and 100 million in 1918, mostly healthy young adults. Another deadly H1N1 virus was the Swine Flu, which may have infected 11% to 21% of the world's population in 2009.

Sadly, the vaccine is still not ready for mass distribution yet. They have to complete the usual FDA procedures to be introduced in the market, a process that may take years.

Via (Gizmodo)

Antimatter created, captured for the first time

Scientists working at the CERN announced they have Created And Captured Anti Matter For the First time , which could offer new insights into the universe.
They were able to preserve the antimatter atoms for one-tenth of a second.

Scientists working on the big bang machine in Geneva have done the seemingly impossible: create, capture and release antimatter.

The development could help researchers devise laboratory experiments to learn more about this strange substance, which mostly disappeared from the universe shortly after the Big Bang around 14 billion years ago.

Right from the day when Antimatter was first predicted in 1931 by the British physicist Paul Dirac, who theorized that antimatter is ordinary matter in reverse.It was Huge subject For science fiction movies like Startrek Series and To  Dan Brown 's Angels and Demons .

And now it was No longer a fantasy in science fiction movies as physcits made this possible .I'm a Guy who relates Everything In Life whether its science or sports to Movies,so Whenever i Think of Antimatter The First thing which comes in Mind Is the movie " Angels And Demons" in which a secret society hides an antimatter bomb beneath St Peter’s Basilica in Rome.If you have seen Angels and Demons then you would understand why am i saying .Its Not only a Mystrey Thriller film following symbols but for the First time it Made me to Realise The concept of Antimatter.Movie Presented An Excellent Demonstration of How Antimatter is Created ,what Results May end up if we play with Antimatter.

So What is AntiMatter

Antimatter is ordinary matter in reverse. Atoms normally consist of positively charged nuclei and negatively charged orbiting electrons. Their antimatter counterparts have negatively charged nuclei and positively charged electrons. For example, a positron (the antiparticle of the electron) and an antiproton can form an antihydrogen atom in the same way that an electron and a proton form a normal matter hydrogen atom. Furthermore, mixing matter and antimatter can lead to the annihilation of both in the same way that mixing antiparticles and particles does, thus giving rise to high-energy photons (gamma rays) or other particle–antiparticle pairs.This Energy can Be used for productive purposes rather than Destructive way.
A single pound of antimatter would contain more destructive power than the largest H-bomb.
Previous Experiments

In 2002 scientists at CERN produced antihydrogen atoms in large quantities, but they had an incredibly short lifespan -- just several milliseconds -- because the antihydrogen came into contact with the walls of their containers and the two annihilated each other.

In this latest experiment the lifespan of the antihydrogen atoms was extended by using magnetic fields to trap them and thus prevent them from coming into contact with matter just like vials seen in Angels and Demons but of huge size.

The researchers created 38 antihydrogen atoms and held on to them for about a tenth of a second, which is long enough to study them says Professor Jeffrey Hangst, one of the team of CERN scientists who worked on the program.

CERN's Large Hadron Collider recreates 'mini Big Bang'

The Large Hadron Collider world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator which is Expected to answer address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing humanity's understanding of the deepest laws of nature has created its very own mini Big Bang after smashing together lead ions instead of protons.
It was thrilling moment for the Scientists waiting all over the world.
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the giant machine probing the nature of matter near Geneva, Switzerland created mini versions of the “Big Bang” which gave birth to the universe almost 14 billion years.
*The scientists working at the enormous machine achieved the unique conditions on 7 November.

*The experiment created temperatures a million times hotter than at the centre of the Sun.
About LHC 

* LHC is housed in a 27km-long circular tunnel under the French-Swiss border near Geneva.
*THeLHC is smashing together particles in a bid to unlock the secrets of formation of our Universe
*It is operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) in Geneva

*The giant tunnel is located an average of 100m underground
*The LHC is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator
*The circumference of the LHC is 26 659 m, with a total of 9300 magnets inside
*The magnets are cooled to an operating temperature of -271.3°C (1.9 K) - colder than deep space
Large Hadron Collider: A Guide
*The $8 billion machine had previously been colliding protons -- sub-atomic particles -- in the search for the Higgs boson or "God particle," thought to give matter its mass,Proton collisions could help spot the elusive Higgs boson particle and signs of new physical laws, such as a framework called supersymmetry..

These experiments were shut down last  5th november, to allow the LHC to run with lead ions instead -- atoms from which an electron has been removed -- to study different aspects of physics.

A computer simulation of the first lead ion collision in the Large Hadron Collider, a simulation of the events immediately after the Big Bang.(Image Via Fox news)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The lead ion collisions will allow the LHC to create a superheated mixture of subatomic particles called quark-gluon plasma, which pervaded the universe immediately after the Big Bang. One of the accelerator’s four detectors, called ALICE (A Lead Ion Collider Experiment), will examine this substance for clues to the early universe.
How Lead ions collide
* The lead-ion beams start with a piece of pure lead just under an inch long (2cms)that weighs 500 milligrams (0.017 oz). It is heated to about 500 degrees celsius to vapourize a small number of atoms. 
* An electrical current is used to remove a few of the electrons from each atom, and then the newly created ions are slowly accelerated around the LHC until they are electron free.
* When they reach 1.38 teraelectronvolts they are brought into collision in the centre of three detectors which record the debris from the impacts.*ultra-sophisticated detectors around the LHC record how particles behave after being smashed together, transmitting the data for analysis to laboratories at CERN and in other research centers around the globe.

For detail info  visit  Cern  

Invisibility cloak closer with flexible 'metamaterial'

  

Scientists in the UK have demonstrated a flexible film that represents a big step towards the “invisibility cloak” made famous by Acclaimed Socio-Fantasy series Harrypotter.
Scientists are Close to Relaising the scientific fantasies As we see Regularly in science Fiction movies,the may be close In near future the Flying cars,Warp effects of Star trek,3d Holograms Of Starwars can be Reality.

As cloaks  designed  to shield objects from Tera Hertz and Near Infrared waves have already been designed by phyicsts at St. Andrews Universityin Scottland,they have develpoed the Metamaterial which can create  independent flexible material that could theoretically appear invisible to naked eye ideal for use in a wide range of applications including the Invisibility cloak.It manipulates The Behaviour of Light.But these Materials only affected light of a colour far beyond the human eye’s ability to discern.

 The tiny structures in the newly Created film bond together to create a meta-material which causes objects to become invisible by bending light around them.

The New York Journal of Physics has reported the demonstration and physicists worldwide have declared the approach a giant step forward in light-bending technology. They haven’t, so far, commented on the social implications of an invisibility cloak.

Meta-materials work by blocking and channelling beams of light at a fundamental level, bouncing light waves in prescribed directions in order to achieve a planned result. The laws of optics work in such a way that light can only be manipulated by structures around the same size as the light-waves’ lengths.

Until the recent demonstration, the most striking former demonstrations of invisibility have used light waves with a longer wavelength which the human eye cannot detect. The reason for this is that it is far easier to construct these materials with larger structures.

The shorter light waves that the human eye can discern require nanostructures, which stretch the boundaries of present-day manufacturing techniques to the limit. The author of the paper presented at the demonstration, St Andrew’s University’s Andrea di Falco, said that the most important step in the process was believing that it could be done.

Dr di Falco used a thin polymer film to fabricate a single layer instead of the previously-used brittle silicon and proved that the film had the properties to construct a 3D flexible meta-material. The physicist Ortwin Hess, holder of the Leverhulme Chair in meta-materials, has welcomed the work as ‘a huge step forward in many ways’. He told reporters that it’s not yet an invisibility cloak but it’s the right way forward.

Read more:
1.Newyork journal of Physics
2. Labspaces

Device That Records and Interprets Dreams

After i watched christopher nolan's inception i've been seriously thinking whether its possible in Real time to record dreams and to intrude into one's dream. The answer may lie in near future as scientists made a significant step as researchers made a device capable of Recording higher brain activity .in near future it would be possible to read people's dream and intrept them.

Its not thing from science fiction movie or a animated comic story(i saw one episode of japanese cartoon "doremon" in which ,the main character reads the dream record it and shows to his friends with help of gadget).
The day may not be far when this would be possible. Its been a mystery for scientists how dreams are occurred when they do occur !!
Perhaps this latest discovery can answer these questions.


Now after so much of research a us scientist Dr.Moran Cerf claims its possible to electronically record and analyse dreams. For centuries people have been fascinated by dreams and what they are.why do the occur. What does they mean.In ancient period they believe that dreams were the messages to them sent by god.
Till now psychologists have been using dream analysis as a tool to understand The subconscious mind.but it does.nt provide any info.the only way to know about dream is to question the person.But the aim of cerf's project is to develop a system that would enable psychologist to corroborate people's recollection of their dream with an electroic visualisation of their brain activity.

In Mr.cerf paper he suggested that the activity of individual brain cells or neurons are associated to specific objects or concepts .his study found when ever a Person thinks of something,a particular neuron lit up.they made a huge database for each patient in order to identify neurons for wide range of objects and concepts .by observing which brain cell lit up and when cerf and his team were able to read the subjects minds. Soon or later all questions why humans dream,when do we dream will be answered this could be a major turn up in study of dreams.:-)


source :nature

Scientists map 'nature's big bang' for first time

Image via Wikipedia

Cells are the building blocks of life. Cells are the smallest fundamental units of an organism from microbes to high level living beings humans. Millions of Cells make up an organ ,which form multi cellular organism. But the scientists are till now unable to interpret how building blocks are found and how they paved a way for life.a notable discovery been made which could change the face of cellular biology by ireland scientists.
Researchers led by a team from ireland  said for the first time they have mapped the nature's big bang when two cells fused into one living organism. Scientists claim they had found how they fused to form multi cellular organism. They called this as "nature's bigbang",evolution of life.

As big bang suggests the evolution of universe. A team of scientists led by irish university professor Dr McInerney  With cambridge university's james cotton have been researching on cells from 10 years . According to them single cell bacteria , single cell arkian fused to give birth to yeast . From which insects ,plants animals have evoluted.

Dr McInerney said: "Essentially, you had an organism, like the Minotaur in ancient Greece, and this, in biological terms is what we hypothesised was the common ancestor of all eukaryotic life.

"Because humans are eukaryotes, we were, in essence, trying to trace the deepest human ancestor." Dr McInerney collaborated with Dr James Cotton at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge to make the discovery, which is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Star Trek Teleportation is likely to be reality -"Beam me up Scotty"

When ever i Watch Star Trek Series and Movies one thing i Fantaise was about the teleportation,moving from one palce to another .
I used To play myself being Captain Spock saying my Brother the iconic Phrase "beam me up scotty",well all that were chidish games.

But they are no longer a Dream.soon this could be close to reality as scientists successfully teleporting objects from one place to another with the help of Energy Rays.
A team of scientists at the australian national university in canberra using tractor,the tractor beams the rays that can move objects .they managed to shift tiny particles up to 59 inches. 

The machine used to create the tractor beam which brought the art of molecular transportation closer
The method involves the shining of a hallow laser beam arouny the object which heats up the air around it ,but the centre of the beam which strikes the particles stays cool resulting in their being drawn towards the beam's warm edges. 
The heated air molecules that are bouncing around strike the surface of the object surface and nudge it back to the cooler centre. Researcher mr.rhode said his team can movie objects 100 times bigger over a distance of almost five feet .the daily mail 
see for more information . 
May be in the upcoming ages we could do teleport from one planet to other , as in star trek.lol

DNA test may predict your child's talent-ACTN3 sports gene

 

An increasing number of curious parents are going to subject their children to a DNA test to determine what they will be best at as adults in future.

Already in the developed countries like us and Europe such tests have progressed to determine the child's potential IQ,memory power.

It will help the parents the way they  groom  children.

Even, India has started using to  to ascertain what sport their children will do best in when they grow up.
“Analysis of the ACTN3 gene can be used to predict the kind of muscle fibre the child will develop as he/she grows up. Based on this we can figure out the body’s capacity to adapt to different sports,” says a leading orthopedic surgeon,Mr Naresh Padmanaban in Chennai.

The sample can collect as many as 10,000 cells that enable scientists to isolate up to 40 different genes.

By studying the genetic code, scientists can extract specialized DNA information about a child's IQ, athletic ability, artistic ability, emotional control, focus and other talents and even health and disease related factors.

Doctors use information extracted from what they claim is the "sports Gene" to predict what kind of game the child will be best suited to.